In contexts such as auction-based online advertising markets, entities such as, for example, publishers, market facilitators, or others may collect or obtain information on users, such as, for example, demographic information, browsing history information which may suggests user interests or other user characteristics, information shared by users relating to user interests, and other information. Such entities (which can include their proxies, agents, associates, etc.) may, for example, use such information in grouping users into groups or segments, which may, for example, be useful for advertisers in targeting users with online advertisements. Such entities may, for example, charge advertisers more to target users in certain segments.
Purchasing advertisers may, for example, agree, however, not to use (such as re-use), such segment information (which can broadly include various types of information about or relating to the segment or users in the segment), such as other than for the purchased advertising. Nonetheless, advertisers sometimes do, in fact, make prohibited use of such segment information. This prohibited use can be very costly or damaging to such entities.